Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin ((Hebrew: גרשון בסקין‎), born in New York in 1956) is the founder and co-chairman of IPCRI - Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, (in 2014 IPCRI was "rebranded" by its new co-directors and now stands for "Israel Palestine Creative Regional Initiatives") dedicated to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of "two-states for two peoples" solution.[1] He is a social and political activist and a researcher of the Israeli Palestinian conflict and peace process. Baskin is a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.[2] Baskin reports on his personal website that he holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Greenwich University a never-accredited institution.[3] Greenwich University was a controversial distance learning institution described as a degree mill by the Sydney Morning Herald,[4] and its operations in Australia were stopped by legislation introduced by the Australian Education Minister in 1992.[5]

Biography

In his youth Baskin became involved in the civil rights movement and the anti–Vietnam war movement. In 1978 Baskin received his BA from New York University in politics and history of the Middle East. In September 1978 he immigrated to Israel with the Interns for Peace program. From 1979 to 1981 he was a community worker in Kafr Qara, a Palestinian Arab village in Israel. In 1982 Baskin was in the Ministry of Education the coordinator of education for co-existence between the Jewish and Arab school systems in Israel. In 1983 under the auspices of the Prime Minister's office and the Ministry of Education, Baskin founded and directed the Institute for Education for Jewish Arab Coexistence, which was funded by the German Hanns Seidel Foundation. In March 1988 Baskin founded IPCRI - Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, and served as its co-director until January 2012. In mid-1989 Baskin launched three Israeli-Palestinian working groups: Economics and Business, the Future of Jerusalem, and the water experts working group. In October 1992 Baskin initiated a series of secret meetings in London with former Israeli security officers and Palestinian officials from the PLO. These talks laid down the framework for subsequent security undertaking in the Oslo agreement of September 1993.[6] In 1994 Baskin became an outside adviser on the peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established by Prime Minister Rabin. Baskin together with other Israelis and Arabs had worked for years to secure peace between Israelis and Arabs and had many Arab contacts.

Baskin and Gilad Shalit

In July 2006, after Gilad Shalit's abduction in Gaza he began unofficially, without governmental authorization or support, to open a back channel with Hamas. He became the unofficial intermediary between senior Hamas officials and Israeli envoy David Meidan. Baskin's main interlocutor in Hamas was Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Ghazi Hamad. Baskin was involved in efforts leading up to Shalit's release for more than five years .[7] Baskin's efforts are detailed in his book The Negotiator – Freeing Gilad Schalit from Hamas, Toby Press, November 2013.

Continued talks with Hamas

Immediately after the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Baskin and his counterpart in Hamas, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Ghazi Hamad began discussing the possibilities for negotiating a long term ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. On 1 May 2012 Baskin presented the fourth draft of the proposed agreement to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak formed a high level committee to discuss the proposal composed of officials from the security establishment. After two months the committee decided against entering into a formal agreement with Hamas, even if, as proposed it be negotiated and formalized through the Egyptian General Intelligence Service. In October 2012 Baskin initiated once again a round of talk with Ahmed Jabari the head of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of Hamas through Ghazi Hamad to reach a ceasefire. In November 2012 Baskin and Hamad met in Cairo, they also met with Egyptian intelligence officers and discussed possible long-term ceasefire arrangements. On 14 November 2012 Hamad met with Jabari and was planning to send a copy of a ceasefire agreement text to Baskin but later that day Israel eliminated him in Gaza and subsequently the Pillar of Defense military operation began. Baskin and Hamad remain in contact.

Baskin after IPCRI

Since stepping down as co-director of IPCRI on 31 December 2011, Baskin became the co-chairman of the Board of IPCRI. He is also a member of the steering committee of the Israeli Palestinian Peace NGO Forum, a member of the Board of Directors of ALLMEP – the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a member of the Israeli Board of One Voice Movement, and a member of the editorial committee of the Palestine Israel Journal. In 2012 Baskin was a library fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He also began to advance renewable energy projects in the Palestinian Authority in association with local Palestinian partners and Gigawatt Global, a Dutch renewable energy company developing solar energy in emerging markets. He has also begun developing renewable energy projects in Egypt. In 2013 Baskin began working as a consultant to a USAID project through Deloitte Emerging Markets, The Trade Project, aimed at developing the Palestinian private sector, increasing trade and decreasing the cost of trade.

Awards

Baskin has been awarded:

Publications (books)

Baskin has published thousands of oped articles in many publications.

References

  1. ↑ "IPCRI". Retrieved 2013-10-21.
  2. ↑ "Gershon Baskin". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  3. ↑ "Gershon Baskin's website statement about his PhD".
  4. ↑ "Sydney Morning Herald (20 May 2002). 'Click here for your PhD' (PDF)." (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Formal Education | Gershon Baskin". gershonbaskin.org. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  6. ↑ London Secret Talks.
  7. ↑ "Baskin and Gilad Shalit".

External links

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